Manufacture of printed paper articles



Nov. 30, 1937. H. M. RUSSELL ET AL v MANUFACTURE OF PRINTED PAPER ARTICLES Fiied June 24, 1936 RE w Patented Nov. 30; 1937 PATENT OFFICE MANUFACTURE OF PRINTED PAPER ARTICLES Harlow M. RusselLChelsea, and Melvin B. 'Sidebotham,

West Newton,

Mass., assignors to Specialty Automatic Machine Company, Medford, Mass., a corporation Application June24, 1936, Serial No. 86,916

9 Claims. (CI. 93-36) The invention relates to the manufacture by automatic machine y, of paper articles such as boxes. envelopes, wrappersflabels and all paper and paper-board products which are color printed and the printing ink rapidly dried immediately prior to manufacturing operations which necessitate contact or register with the printed surfaces.

. It has not heretofore been possible to produce,

printed and fabricated articles by a succession of operations wherein the printed ink is rapidly dried by heat treatment, and yet have the printed matter in precise register with the article. The reason for this is that in quickly heat drying the printed ink the paper will shrink with the result that succeeding fabrication will be out of register with the printed matter on thearticle.

It is common knowledge that printed paper articles have for a considerable time been produced by automatic machinery performing a succession of operations. It'is also well known that moisture has been applied to paper to facilitate printing thereon, but the method and the machine here described discloses for the first time,

so far as we are aware, the use of moisture to compensate for the shrinkage of paper caused by heat drying the printed ink thereon, thus making it possible to perform succeeding fabricating operations in contact with or in precise register with the printed matter thereon.

One of the objects of our invention isto produce a method by which printed paper articles may be made from a web by a succession of operations wherein color printing is effected and the printing ink rapidly dried by the application of heat and wherein moisture isintroduced to the paper to compensate for the moisture extracted in the drying operation.

Another object is to effect a method whereby printed paper articles may be produced from a web by a sequence of operations, wherein heat is applied to dry the printed matter on the web without effecting the register of the printed areas with the succeeding operations. Another object is to provide a mechanism which will automatically print a web of paper, rapidly. dry the printing ink while adding moisture to the web to compensate for the moisture lost due to the drying process, and perform succeeding fabri- 5 eating operations in precise register with the printed areas.

With said objects in view, and others hereinafter explained, our invention consists in the method and machine, substantially as herein- 55 after described and claimed.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the essential parts of the machine for carrying out our improved method.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of machine'shown in Figure 1. 5 Figure 3'shows a section of the paper web after it has been creased but before it has been treated I with adhesive and folded.

Figure 4 is a completed printed paper container in flat condition ready'to be opened up for 10 use.

Figure 5 is an end elevation of container shown in Figure 4. k Figure 6 is a perspective view of the printed paper container after it has been opened up for 15 use. Y

Similar reference characters indicate similar parts or features in all of the views.

Referring first to Figures land 2, the different parts or members of the machine are mounted on 20 suitable sideframes I and 2 connected by crossbars 3 andl. I

Mounted on shaft 6 at the rear end of the ma- A chine is a roll of paper 5 for supplying the web ing the web a as it is drawn between rolls 1 and 9 mounted on shafts] and I0 respectively, said .30 shafts being Journalled in sideframes I and 2.:

The next unit comprises an oven I I supported by sideframes I and 2, and moisture applyi g devices 26 and 21 supported by brackets '28 and 29 fastened to sideframes I and 2. The said oven 35 II being kept at a suitably highgtemperatureby electricity or gas flames as may be preferred, to quickly dry the printed ink on the web a. The said moisture applying device's operate to add moisture tothe paper web a to compensate for 40 the moisture lost in the drying process. I

The next unit comprises a pair of rolls. I2 and I3, journaled in sideframe I and 2, said rolls having peripheral ribs and grooves to add creased lines b, c, d, e, and ,f (Fig. 3) to the web a of the 4 paper as it is drawn from the supply roll 5.

" Adhesive is applied to the margin 9 (Fig. 3) of the web a by roll I4 supported by reservoir housing I5 mounted on sideframe I.

The next unit comprises folding bar's I6 and I! supported by brackets I8 and I9 mounted on sideframes I and 2.

The next unit comprises a pair of rolls 20 and 2| iournalled in sideframes I and 2, the upper roll is provided with knives 22 which, as the folded 66 web is drawn along, cuts the said folded web into sections such as is illustrated in Figure 4. From the rolls 20 and 2| the cut off sections of the web pass over shelf 23 to delivery belt 24 driven by rolls 25 Journalled in sideframes l and 2.

The moisture applying devices 26 and 21 (Figs. 1 and 2) include pipes or tubes from which moisture in the form of spray or vapor is applied to the web of paper. The amount of moisture required varies greatly, depending on the degree of heat used to dry the printing and the condition and composition of the paper used. For some purposes moisture need only be applied to one surface of the paper 'while in other cases moisture is required only after the paper has left the drying oven. It is necessary in some instances tosubject the web to a bath of water in order to introduce sumcient moisture to the paper to accomplish the desired results.

It will be readily understood, without need of illustration, that any suitable motor may be employed for operating the machine, and that suitable gearing is employed in practice to cause the various rolls to rotate at uniform peripheral'speed to effect the travel of the web through the machine, in order that the operations of the several units thereof will be effected in the sequence described.

In the operation of the machine the web a is color printed while being drawn between cylinders 8 and 9. The ink is then dried and the paper moisture conditioned, by being exposed to heat treatment in oven H and by the action of moisture applying devices 26 and 21. The web is then acted upon by rolls I2 and I3 (Figs. 1 and 2) to provide creased lines b, c, a, e, and f (Fig. 3). Adhesive is applied to margin g (Figure 3) by roll M (Fig. 2). The traveling web is then acted upon by bars l6 and I1 to fold the web on creased lines and e so that the adheslvely treated margin 9 will underlie the edge margin of the section folded on line 0; to form a flat tubular web. The tubular web is then cut to predetermined lengths by cutting rolls 2n and 2|, thence the cut-off sections, one of which is illustrated by Figure 4, are discharged to delivery belt 24.

While the invention includes the combined invstrumentalities above mentioned, we wish it to be understood that we consider the means not only combinatively novel, but insofar as we are aware, certain of the devices going to make up such means are new in less combinations than the whole, as will more clearly appear hereinafter.

The method herein described of heat-drying printed ink and moisture-treating paper, has the effect of eliminating faulty register caused by the shrinking of the paper. The introduction of moisture also facilitates creasing and folding by rendering the paper more pliable.

The container, illustrated in Figures 4, and 6, is not claimed as a part of this invention.

While we have shown a preferred method and machine for accomplishing the desired results, it is evident to those skilled in the art that changes may be made to suit the requirements of the article to be produced, without departing from the spirit of our invention. Having now described our invention, what we claim is:

1. The method of making paper articles by a sequence of operations, consisting of feeding a web of paper, printing the web, applying heat to dry the printing, adding moisture to the web in an amount suilicient to compensate for the moisture extracted from the paper during the drying operation, creasing the web, applying adhesive to a portion of the web, folding and then cutting the web to predetermined lengths.

2. The method of making paper articles by a sequence of operations, consisting of feeding a web of paper, color printing the paper, applying heat to dry the printing, introducing moisture to the paper in an amount suflicient to compensate for the moisture extracted from the paper during the drying operation, performing fabricating operations in precise register with said printing on the paper.

3. In the making of printed paper articles by a succession of operations wherein the paper is first printed and thereafter moisture in thepaper and moisture in the ink is extracted by the application of heat; the method of introducing moisture into the paper to compensate for the moisture extracted by the said application of heat.

4. The method of making printed paper products by a sequence of operations, consisting of color printing a section of paper, applying moisture to both sides of the paper, drying the color printing and extracting from the paper by the application of heat the previously added moisture, and performing fabricating operations on the paper in register with the printed areas.

5. The method of fashioning printed paper products by a succession of operations, comprising color printing a section of paper, heat drying the printing and then adding moisture to the paper in an amount sufficient to compensate for the moisture driven from the paper during the heat drying operation.

6. The method of fashioning printed paper products by a sequence of operations, comprising color printing a section of paper, applying moisture to both sides of the paper and then applying heat to dry the printing and to extract from the paper the surplus moisture.

7. A machine for making printed paper articles, comprising means to cause a web of paper to travel, means for ink printing the paper web, means for heat drying the printing, means for adding moisture to the web to compensate for the moisture lost while heat drying the printing.

8. A machine for making printed paper containers, comprising means for causing a web of paper to travel, means for printing the web, means for applying moisture to the web, heat drying means to dry the printing and to extract the previously applied moisture from the web.

9. A machine for making printed paper articles by a sequence ofoperations comprising, means for causing a web of paper to travel, means for printing the web, means for drying the printing, means for adding moisture to the web in an amount suflicient tocompensate for the moisture extracted from the web during the drying operation, and means for folding the web.

HARLOW M. RUSSELL.

MELVIN n. SIDEBOTHAM. 

